The BBC has shared the update fans have been waiting for as filming begins on the highly anticipated prequel, Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms.
A New Chapter in Poplar
Since its 2012 debut, the much-loved period drama has captivated audiences with compelling stories of childbirth, social struggles, medical advances in the NHS, deprivation, and life-threatening health conditions. Adapted from the memoirs of renowned nurse and midwife Jennifer Worth, the show was initially set in 1957, when the National Health Service was still a relatively new concept.
The fifteenth series was set 14 years on and exhibited the developments in medical science and practice as reforms to the NHS threatened Nonnatus House with closure. Set in 1971, the season finale also revealed the passing of beloved nun, Sister Monica Joan (played by Judy Parfitt), reducing fans to tears.
What to Expect from Sisters in Arms
Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms is a three-part Christmas special, with further details about a full-length series to be announced in due course. Helmed by the current Call the Midwife creative team—showrunner Heidi Thomas with executive producers Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank, who also produces—the series features some well-known characters as their younger selves and is narrated, as the older Sister Julienne, by Jenny Agutter.
In September 1939, Sister Monica Joan is in her prime, Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina are young and zealous, and Nonnatus House is the beating heart of Poplar. Together with Sister Alice, and local GP Dr Kit, the nuns dedicate their lives to mothers, babies and the poor. But there is no gas and air, no penicillin, no cure for TB, and no welfare state.
Then war is declared—and life gets even harder. The three young secular midwives who complete the team—Sybil, Olive and Marianne—receive a baptism of fire as the blackout and the Blitz take hold. While bombs rain from the sky, women give birth underground, families are shattered, children run wild, and whole streets are reduced to rubble. But courage, compassion and resilience triumph as the community unites in its efforts to survive.
Cast and Characters
Coronation Street legend Julie Hesmondhalgh will guest star as Sister Alice alongside Doctor Who's Amy Booth-Steel who takes on the role of Sister Evangelina, Helen Schlesinger as Sister Monica Joan and Helena Wilson as Sister Julienne. Dr Kit Malhotra is played by Bally Gill.
Martin McCann guest stars as Tommy Moffat with Rachel O'Connell as his wife Mary. Marianne Siegler is played by Liv Andrusier, Sybil Maxted by Lizzie Back and Olive Dobbs by Ellie Mckay. Ciaran Bowling stars as Fred Buckle and Ami Metcalf as his wife Betty with Ben Rose as Dr Patrick Turner.
Call the Midwife is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
